Beez Neez now Chy Whella

JoJo

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Fri 18 Mar 2011 23:49

JoJo

JoJo is a very, very unique Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Since 1980 JoJo has been plying the water of the Turks and Caicos Islands centreing on the Provo area. This friendly dolphin has become a powerful symbol for nature conservation in the TCI's.

JoJo is one of the few dolphins around the world who has chosen to voluntarily interact with human beings in his own natural habitat. Much loved by the islanders, the Government has proclaimed JoJo a National Treasure and in 1987, appointed a special Warden, Dean Bernal, to protect him. Dean first met JoJo in 1985, when JoJo began following Dean on his long swims out to the reefs off Providenciales. At that time JoJo was already a popular figure along the beach front but he was known to bite people and had a dangerous reputation. What most people did not know is that JoJo only bit those who tried to touch him as he cavorted in the shallows. It seems for some wild dolphins a humans attempt to touch the mammal is considered a threat and JoJo was simple defending himself.

These first three images are JoJo featured on postcards we found - featuring him when he was younger.

At that time, Dean was employed as a Dive Instructor on Provo and each day after Dean's classes, usually about five pm, JoJo and Dean would begin their reef swim. They would swim out to the reef where Dean would meet a dive boat to conduct a night dive, and then Dean and JoJo would swim back to shore in the dark. Their nightly dives became a regular part of Dean's daily regime and the relationship between man and dolphin grew steadily stronger. If JoJo showed up before the Scuba lessons ended, he would playfully pull on Dean's regulator hose trying to drag him away from his students. Sometimes he would swim high-speed circles round the group, affectively reducing the visibility to zero and cancelling the instruction. Occasionally he would patiently wait, hovering just over Dean's shoulder, for the lessons to end. One time he herded an eight foot shark into the middle of the group to break up the day's class. Knowing that Dean would stay in the water with him for hours when they are with other marine life JoJo has brought fish, lobsters, turtles, manta rays, whale sharks, an occasional bull and nurse shark, and he has even herded in a baby humpback whale along with its mother. JoJo's playful antics are often aimed at others. Quite often water skiers off Provo will suddenly find themselves paddling water. JoJo likes to come up underneath the ski and butt it skyward throwing the skier. JoJo once took a diver's three thousand camera and hid it in the reef but playfully returned it fifteen minutes later.

A photo off the internet of JoJo and Dean

Through patient observation since 1987 Dean has compiled an impressive collection of data providing a rare and complete look into a wild dolphin's life in the open ocean. Diaries, data sheets, video and film materials now form a library and a wealth of information on the behavior of dolphins in their natural habitat. Dean has been fortunate to witness and document JoJo's behaviour and interaction with whales, sharks, manta rays, other dolphins, numerous other marine life, submarines, people and even terrestrial animals. Over the years, Dean has documented JoJo's growth through puberty, his competing for a position in a pod, his sickness and his well being. Because of Dean's ongoing Dolphin Project, the development of trust in his and JoJo's relationship and Dean's position as a Warden, JoJo's life has been saved on numerous occasions. Dean has been able to treat JoJo's wounds caused by such incidents as entanglement in turtle nets, infections from sting ray barbs, confrontations with sharks, and impacts from water ski boats. Our pictures follow.

Since JoJo has expanded his twenty six mile home range to two hundred and sixty miles, it makes the research much more challenging, not to mention interesting and rewarding. JoJo is now mating and travelling with other dolphins intermittently, finding new feeding grounds, utilising new habitats and migratory routes, and continuing to expand his experiences of what a young free-roaming, wild dolphin should be living and experiencing.

JoJo has his own website, is on Face Book and You Tube. Bear still cannot get over the fact that JoJo checked up on his anchoring skills. Speaking to a lady in a dive shop, she told us he had a particular love of them, no one is sure why, whether it be the shine or the noise as they go down, whatever, we were chuffed to bits.